On the second anniversary of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack on October 7, 2023, Hamas agreed to a ceasefire, stunning Netanyahu and disappointing Iran’s proxies in Yemen and Iraq. What remains of Hezbollah, which had already signed its own ceasefire with Israel on November 27, 2024, now has no choice but to support Hamas’s decision to accept President Trump’s plan. The only tenable translation of this support is for Hezbollah handing over its illegitimate arms to the Lebanese Army.
In taking this turn, Hamas has abandoned the discourse of delusion and senseless obstinacy. After having precipitated a catastrophe unparalleled in Palestinian history, it has accounted for and prioritized the Palestinian people’s future for the first time. It explained that its decision stems from its desire to end the war and genocide. For its part, Hezbollah is now faced with the challenge of facing reality. This entails putting an end to its use of its own base, and the people of the South, and the Lebanese as sandbags shielding its illegitimate arsenal, which failed to protect the party itself.
Hezbollah never built anything; it has brought only destruction, playing a central role in the proxy wars against the people of Syria, Yemen and Iraq. At home, its weapons aggravated civil strife and safeguarded corruption, and the party became a partner in the plunder of the country and impoverishment of its people. The alliance between illicit arms and corruption shattered the foundations of the Lebanese state, clearing the ground for the rise of a statelet that imposed its will.
Amid domestic turmoil, Nawaf Salam stressed that “sedition is averted and the state’s integrity is restored through the application of the law” and that “the law is what can stand in the enemy’s way,” following the so-called “clear victory” of the “Laser Raid” in Raouche. Everyone already knows the enemy’s aims. There is no need for additional evidence; our people have long suffered at the hands of criminal schemes. After the constitution had been undercut for decades, with the law applied arbitrarily, ordinary citizens now find themselves with a prime minister committed to the constitution, the law, security, and equality among Lebanese. This sabotage had legalized the cohabitation of the political system with illegal arms, forged an “alliance of villains,” enabled theft of both public and private funds as the World Bank described, and cloaked violations of sovereignty while legitimizing subservience to the axis of ruin.
If it may be understandable that Hezbollah claims its weapons are a “guarantee” of civil peace to justify its insistence on retaining them for the sake of this supposed peace, it is incomprehensible that major platforms would adopt positions accepting such a reality imposed by illegal arms. For the state’s first duty is the protection of its citizens; its legitimate forces are not a buffer between armed illegality and the people, as the “Laser Raid” demonstrated. Hence the prime minister sounded the alarm, stressing: “There is no one state except with one army... There is no one state except with one law applied equally to all.” Beyond that, sedition can be averted only through the enforcement of law. By extension, only a state that guarantees justice for its people is qualified to repel aggression and the dangers that flow from it.
Lebanon has entered a new phase that breaks with the political era imposed on the Lebanese during the war years and the decades (falsely dubbed an era of “civic peace”) that followed. In reality, the post-war decades were a time of distortions, dictates, domination, plunder, and forced displacement, especially of youths and skilled professionals. Since the great collapse of 2019, almost half a million Lebanese have left the country. Because this new era is different, after the attack of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” and, in Lebanon, the “Support War,” all taboos must fall. Rebuilding a capable and just state demands serious and comprehensive national dialogue that ensures accountability. Every policy and practice since the Taif Agreement must be reckoned with. The same is true for the amnesty granted to those in power that allows the highest official in the legislature to boast openly: “Sue me.”
How did the great heist happen? How was the country impoverished? How were its people brought to their knees in the blink of an eye? How much longer will justice for the capital and its people remain suspended following the port blast? How was the country turned into a firing range for foreign actors exchanging messages? How was its infrastructure ravaged? Why was the blood of its citizens spilled in vain? By what right did Hezbollah break and plunder the country, dragging it into a war that incurred catastrophic costs ? Can the thousands of lives wrecked ever be restored?
Who is responsible for uprooting tens of thousands of families, and for the erasure of entire towns- with their history and heritage, carved out by sweat, blood, and the toil of generations? Only the ruthless Israeli enemy. But how was its mission made easier?
The time has come to close the chapter of obfuscation and reckless evasion. The era of branding dissent- the time “the most honorable of people,” of arrogance and condescension, and of “promised victories” has ended, after having left the country weaker than a spiderweb.
After Gaza, Lebanon finds itself in the eye of the storm. More than at any point since the ceasefire agreement, this is a perilous moment. There are an abundance of reasons to fear a resumption of the rampage: Netanyahu’s interests as a war criminal threatened to let him expand the war to the north. Accordingly, no one has the luxury of time. The threats facing the country demand abandoning silence and lethargy, stepping down from the spectator’s seat, and planning and pursuing action. This is especially incumbent on those seeking change and the forces genuinely committed to the country’s sovereignty. Only by imposing a state monopoly on armament and upholding justice can Lebanon stave off sedition and aggression.
